Working at a food magazine, you are undeniably surrounded by some really great cooks. At one of our team potlucks, a woman who worked in the test kitchen brought this pie as her contribution. No surprise, I immediately begged for the recipe. But I do find it amusingly ironic that the recipe originated from the food magazine we didn’t work for.
As I look at the date on my well-loved chocolate-stained paper copy, the fact that this recipe was printed and gifted to me a mere 2 weeks before my daughter was born says nothing of my pregnancy cravings - or her innate sweet tooth. 😉
Decadent Black-Bottom Chocolate Pudding Pie
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Pie
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Description
This is a great make-ahead dessert, as the pie needs to chill for at least 6 hours (and up to two days) before serving.
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 9 whole chocolate graham crackers (5 oz, 1 sleeve)
- 1 TB sugar
- ¼ tsp. fine-grain salt (like table or sea salt)
- 6 TB unsalted butter, melted
For the filling:
- 1 ¼ cups sugar (248 g)
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (48 g)
- ¼ cup cornstarch (32 g)
- 3 ½ cups half and half
- 4 large egg yolks, room temperature
- 3 ½ ounces bittersweet chocolate (~60%), chopped
- 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
- 2 TB unsalted butter
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
For the topping:
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream, chilled
- 2 TB powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tsp. instant espresso powder
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
For the crust:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Finely grind graham crackers, sugar and salt in food processor. Add butter and pulse until the crumbs are evenly moistened.
- Firmly press mixture into 9-inch glass pie dish.
- Bake until crust sets, about 8 minutes. Set aside to cool.
For the filling:
- Whisk together the sugar, cocoa and cornstarch in a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Gradually whisk in 1 cup half and half.
- Over medium-high heat, whisk in the remaining 2 ½ cups half and half and egg yolks. Whisk constantly until the mixture thickens and boils, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Off heat, add both chocolates and butter and whisk until melted and smooth. Mix in vanilla.
- Transfer filling to cooled crust. Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of filling and chill until set, at least 6 hours.
For the topping:
- In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk together all topping ingredients until soft peaks form.
- Peel plastic off pie, cut into wedges and spoon a generous dollop of whipped cream atop each slice.
Notes
- If unable to find chocolate graham crackers, you can use an equal amount (5 oz) of Nabisco's Famous Chocolate Wafers.
- If you don't have a food processor, place the graham crackers in a sealed plastic bag and smash with a rolling pin to form fine crumbs. Pour the crumbs into a bowl and stir in the melted butter until combined.
- When making the filling, I like to alternate between a whisk and a spatula. The whisk to keep everything uniform, and the spatula to scrape up any clumps that are trying to have a mind of their own.
- Although you can make the pie up to two days in advance, personally, I like to eat it shortly after the filling has set, as the longer the pie sits, the softer the crust becomes. Still incredibly delicious either way, I prefer the distinctive textural contrast of the crumbly cookie crust to the cold creamy pudding.
- Unnecessary, but if looking for a little extra pizazz, garnish the pie with chocolate shavings (grate a bar of chocolate with a box grater or microplane) or chocolate-covered espresso beans.
- Recipe slightly adapted from Epicurious.com
Keywords: pudding pie, chocolate pudding, graham cracker crust, icebox pie
april
This is my kind of pie!!!
Sarah Marx Feldner
yay! mine, too! LOTS of chocolate and a cookie crust - no dough rolling required - whew! 😉